James Bond Locations

14 Aug 2018

In Casino Royale, after Bond has killed Mollaka the Bomb maker at the embassy in Madagascar, M is summoned to appear in front of a committee in the Houses of Parliament. Bond's actions are questioned by the committee and they hold M responsible. M and Villiers are walking through what appears to be the Houses of Parliament after the meeting.

The scene in the film pictures the Parliament and then cuts to the Committee room where M and Villiers are walking out.

"Christ I miss the cold war!"

The library, however, is not located in London, but in a monastery in Prague. The hall where M and Villiers are walking through is called the Philosophical Hall, and can be found at the Strahov Monastery. The monastery was founded in 1143 and the Philosophical Hall dates back to the late 1700's. The entire hall was totally renovated between 2009-2010.

The Philosophical Hall is open for the public, but only through the main entrance. If you want to walk through the halls you need to call ahead and book a tour. Due to the temperature changes only small groups are allowed in the hall a the same time. The film team probably managed to film there due to the fact that the hall were to be renovated a few years later.

In the adjacent room to the Philosophical Hall, a fake wall with the committee room entrance was put up. It is quite obvious that the walls with the red wallpaper are backdrops. Especially when you look through the room in the background.

Bookshelves from the Theological Hall can be seen in the background

In the far background you can see a very small part of the the Theological Hall which is another library located parallel to the Philosophical Hall in the monastery.

Theological Hall

"I give Bond 00 status and he celebrates by shooting up an embassy! Is the man deranged?!"

8 Jul 2018

In Casino Royale, Bond checks in to The One & Only Ocean Club in the Bahamas. He follows a lead from the terrorist Mollaka, whom he tracked down and killed in Madagascar, which points him to Nassau in the Bahamas. Lucky Bond... The One & Only is a luxury resort, located on the northern shores of Paradise Island, connected to Nassau with two bridges.

All the scenes at the The One & Only were filmed at location at the hotel and the roundabout in front of the entrance still look like in the film. The One & Only is probably one of the most expensive hotels in Nassau but if you have cash like Bond, or the Mi6 bankrolling your visit, it is definitely worth it. The service is excellent and the location itself leaves nothing to be desired.

Bond leaves his car to the valet, leaving the front entrance unsupervised, enabling Bond to pretending to be the valet when two Germans drive up in a Range Rover.

"Hello! Are you going to take this or make me wait?"

As Bond crashes the Range Rover and walks into the hotel, the other guests look chocked towards the car park.

If you arrive by car to the One & Only, you can either leave it to the valet, for about $16 or you can park the car yourself at the same car park free of charge. You might want to leave it for the valet like Bond, but it is still satisfying to drive into the car park yourself. The car park is located quite close to the hotel, so the scenes in the film are quite screen accurate.

4 Jun 2018

When this is posted, James Bond Locations has reached over one million page views since the blog inaugurations in 2011. This post should perhaps have covered a slightly more celebrated location, but as the summer has arrived, it is time to consider what kind of rental car one should choose for a trip abroad and a reminder of Bond's choice in 2006 felt appropriate.

In Casino Royale, when Bond arrives in Nassau in the Bahamas, he takes a rental car from the airport to the One & Only Ocean Club. On his way to the hotel, located on Paradise Island, he passes a row of houses with colorful rooftops as David Arnold's splendid soundtrack is played in the background. The houses are located on the northern shores of Nassau, at a place called Compass Point.

The entire scene is virtually a phone and car commercial, but it is nonetheless a very nice scene and Bond is guided by the GPS tracking system in his Sony Ericsson phone as he is listening to Radio Bahamas in the car. He ultimately ends up at the One & Only Ocean Club on Paradise Island, located on the other side of the island.

The fact that Bond drives past Compass Point after landing with the sea plane is a factual error, since the airfield where Bond disembarks the seaplane is located on Paradise Island, quite close to the Ocean Club where Bond ultimately is heading, which is illustrated in the map below. Compass Point is a seaside resort.

Compass point is located on the north western part of Nassau - far away from Paradise Island

17 May 2018

In Casino Royale, Bond arrives in Nassau, the Bahamas, in a small seaplane. He gets off at Paradise Island and the iconic Hotel Atlantis is seen in the background. Bond is on his way to the One & Only Ocean Club to track down Mr Dimitrios.

The small airport with a seaplane facility that once was located on Paradise Island is gone today and not a trace remains. But the airport was there at the time of filming in 2006 and the field is still accessible today.

Bond's seaplane lands in the canal in Nassau Harbour, between Paradise Island and Nassau. The opening shot pictures the British Colonial Hilton hotel by the beach as the seaplane flies over.

British Colonial Hilton

The scenes from Casino Royale were filmed in 2006. The airport in Paradise Island mainly operated one airline at the time, namely Chalk's Ocean Airways. Not much information about the airport is available, but Chalk's suspended operations in 2007 after a crash in 2005 and one can imagine that the sea-plane facility stopped being used regularly when Chalk's Ocean Airways ceased operations.

Chalk's was one the most legendary commuter airlines in America, it billed itself as "The World's Oldest Airline". Chalk's flew seaplanes in south Florida and the Bahamas for over 8 decades. The airfield actually played a small part in the Pierce Brosnan movie After the Sunset with Salma Hayek. As she is about to leave Max Burdett and take the sea plane from the Bahamas, Brosnan stops her before getting on the plane and asks her to marry him.

22 Apr 2018

In From Russia With Love, when Bond and Tania arrives on the Orient Express in Belgrade, one of Kerim's sons is waiting for Bond at the platform. All the scenes in the Zagreb, Belgrade and Istanbul train stations were filmed at the same railway station in Istanbul, namely the Sirkeci Station in the Fatih district, from where the Orient Express departs on its journey to Paris.

The Sirkeci station doubled for the other locations in the Balkans, with scenes just shot at different platforms on the station. The building in the background is recognisable from earlier in the film when Bond and Tania arrive at the Istanbul station, catching the Orient Express.

The distinct windows are recognisable from the film and can still be found on location.

8 Apr 2018

After escaping from Fiona Volpe and Largo's men in Thunderball, Bond manages to blend in with the Jankanoo parade which is marching through Nassau. The Jankanoo street parade is the little less commonly known Bahamian Mardi Gras, and the equivalent of the Carnival in Rio, which is celebrated every year on 26 December and 1 January.

The previous scene where Bond escapes from Fiona Volpe and Largo's men by setting rum on fire in the car, was actually filmed at the same location on the same street crossing. This is apparent in the picture below where you see the letter B (in Burns) on the building to the right.

The same street crossing where Bond later comes out through the crowd.

The action sequence was filmed on East Street where it intersects with Bay Street in Downtown Nassau.

Largo's men chasing Bond was filmed on the large Bay Street, which runs in an east-west direction through Nassau. A few of the old colonial buildings can be found along Bay Street. I have yet to identify which part of Bay Street that actually were used in the film. None of the houses seen on screen can be identified with certainty. Central Nassau and more of Bay Street will be covered later.

3 Apr 2018

In Never Say Never Again, the motorcycle chase through Menton comes to a brief halt in a tunnel, as Bond is lured into the tunnel by Fatima Blush and her henchmen. Bond is captured but manages to escape and continues the chase of Blush.

Bond escapes from the tunnel

A large part of the motorcycle chase, which has been covered earlier, was filmed in Menton on the French Riviera. Menton is the last village before the Italian border. The tunnel seen in the film is called the Pascal Molinari Tunnel and is located right next to Square Victoria, which contains a monument dedicated to Queen Victoria.

Bond chased into the tunnel along Quai Bonaparte

Menton in October 2015

Bond is captured inside the tunnel but manages to escape, using the tailgate lift of a lorry as a ramp to jump over the henchmens' cars with the motorbike.

Bond then continues to pursue Fatima Blush along the beach road, Quai Bonaparte, in Menton, before arriving in Villefranche-sur-mer where the chase ends at Port de la Darse, in an old warehouse. The building along Quai Bonaparte with its red and yellow wall, seen in the picture below, can still be found on location.

The Bond inspiration

Researching, visiting and writing about the classic and exotic film locations that has been frequented by the most British of all heroes for over 50 years. As a huge 007 fan, devoted to the good life and good drinks the trips are not as much about visiting as they are about living. Always eager to stay in more luxury hotels and order drinks in new bars I am (slowly) working my way around the world together with my old comrade in arms.

Visiting the Bond locations even takes you to some of the most beautiful places in the world. I have realized that visiting the locations even makes you enjoy the films much more.

Thankfully my friend is equally amused as me, in making the location trips and hopefully we will never run out of new sights.

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The James Bond Locations blog is an unofficial information resource and is in no way linked to the official James Bond production companies. All the views expressed on this website are those of the author and does not reflect the views of anyone connected to the official James Bond production companies or anyone else. James Bond images and related trademarks are trademarks of Danjaq, LLC and United Artists Corporation. All rights reserved.